Thank you to all who participated in the Network's second annual grants competition. We received 42 grant proposals from across the state; the 18 winning project proposals will serve more than 22,200 students and families.

SEED GRANT (two-year stepped, recurring funding)

Franklin County Schools: $130,000 (1,400 students/300 parents)

The TCASN Seed Grant will move Franklin County Schools toward achieving its long-range goal of increasing its current college-going rate from 42 percent to 52 percent by 2016. In the two years of the TCASN Grant, FCS will use a three-tiered approach focused on raising college awareness, increasing college aspirations, and assisting with affordability. FCS will hire a postsecondary coach to organize community events to share postsecondary-going information such as saving, preparing, and planning with families of students in grades three through twelve. The grant will allow FCS to offer a new online course through Motlow State Community College; implement an outreach campaign that includes community presentations and collateral materials; establish an after-school club/internship for postsecondary-seeking student leaders; host a Journey-to-Careers Fair that charts the high school and postsecondary education and/or training needed to secure a range of careers; and provide mock college-admission interviews.

MODEL PROGRAM GRANTS

Bridging the Math Divide: McMinn, Meigs, Monroe and Polk County Schools: $40,000 (200 students)

In partnership with Cleveland State Community College, this project will redesign the 4^th-year high school math bridge course for students who have not yet demonstrated college readiness and have an ACT score of 19 or below at the end of their Junior Year. This project will introduce a redesigned methodology into high school classrooms while providing curriculum for the 4^th-year high school bridge math course.

Chattanooga Public Education Foundation – PEF: $40,000 (80 students)

PEF is an independent, non-profit, community-based organization that for nearly twenty-five years has worked in partnership with Hamilton County Schools. The TCASN grant will enhance SOAR – Student Opportunities, Access and Retention – by adding a mentor and cohort support structure. These support structures will help increase the persistence and success rates of SOAR students attaining a four-year degree.  In spring 2011, PEF launched SOAR with funds from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. SOAR aims to boost college completion rates for Hamilton County students who enroll in Chattanooga State Community College (ChSCC) with plans to move on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) for completion of a 4-year bachelor’s degree. 

Kingsbury High School: $40,000 (360 students)

Kingsbury High School serves more Hispanic/Latino students than any other Memphis high school. In partnership with THEC, the Lumina Foundation and Latino Memphis, Kingsbury is part of the Memphis Latino College Mentor Corps (Memphis CMC). The TCASN grant will support the following activities: financial aid workshops for Spanish-speaking Hispanic/Latino families; development and delivery of a locally relevant database of scholarship opportunities; assistance to individuals retaking the ACT and submitting college applications; college-approved graphing calculators for students matched with tutors/mentors; a college textbook lending library, attendance of career-related High School Day activities at Southwest Community College or enrollment assistance in Southwest classes for Fall 2013; and an in-state West Tennessee college tour for students and parents.

Martha O’Bryan Center: $40,000 (340 students)

The Martha O’Bryan Center’s Top Floor program serves low-income/first-generation youth at Stratford High School (Nashville). The TCASN Model Program Grant will help fund a high school transitional case manager, college campus visits, and college application fees for eligible students. Additionally, many students are unable to fully access the services of Top Floor, which operates from 2 to 7 p.m., due to transportation barriers. Through TCASN funding, Top Floor will offer twilight bus services to participating students.

Meigs County Schools’ College Access Program: $40,000 (840 students)

Meigs County Schools are located in rural Southeast Tennessee. Despite boasting high graduation rates, the postsecondary enrollment rates have been well below state averages. The college access program will provide students with the crucial information and experiences needed to understand the importance of postsecondary education. The program will work with students in grades 5-12 to increase student ACT scores and other college-readiness benchmarks, increase the number of students participating in campus tours, and increase the number of students applying to college and completing the FAFSA.

Oasis Center: $40,000 (140 students)

Oasis Center’s Oasis College Connection program (Nashville) will provide additional college retention and success services to low-income first generation youth attending Nashville State Community College. Over the last three years, the Oasis College Connection has developed and expanded college access programming into 15 Metro Nashville public high schools and to Nashville State Community College. The work at NSCC has been limited to 100 students due to intensive 1:1 mentoring that focuses on persistence, retention, and completion. With this grant, Oasis College Connection will expand its services to include more students and further address postsecondary attainment barriers affecting first-generation/low-income students.

tnAchieves: $40,000 (7,088 students)

tnAchieves provides last dollar scholarships for community college and volunteer college mentors to 33 school districts, 126 high schools, nine of the 13 community colleges and two technology centers in 23 counties. tnAchieves will use TCASN support to develop more structured supports for college student retention by incorporating group meetings with college students, community service projects, ambassador programs at each college campus, and individual student progress meetings. Because tnAchieves has increased from working within three post-secondary institutions to eleven, TCASN funding will also help hire a part-time college success coordinator.

CATALYST GRANTS

Crockett County High School: $15,000 (778 students)

TCASN funds will support the purchase of a small computer lab for Crockett County High School’s school counseling office.  Students will be able to use the computers before, during and after school to research careers and colleges; complete college applications, scholarships and financial aid forms (FAFSA); apply for ACT Testing; and participate in ACT prep work and tutoring.

East End Prep Academy: $15,000 (220 students)

East End Prep Academy is a charter elementary school located in East Nashville. East End Prep’s local high school reports that 54 percent of its student body is at basic or below basic proficiency for reading/languages. TCASN funding will be used to purchase the STEP (Student Tracking, Evaluation and Portfolio System) assessment program, a comprehensive software package that is widely regarded as the most effective and efficient industry tool for assessing literacy among students.

Franklin County School District: $15,000 (950 students)

Franklin County School District will use TCASN funding to conduct a gap analysis to identify specific barriers preventing its students from pursuing or persisting in education/training after high school. The gap analysis will enable the FCS’s postsecondary coach to better tailor and create evidence-based interventions.

Knox County Schools: $15,000 (2,668 students)

TCASN funding will be used send additional teachers and leaders to professional development training at the AVID Summer Institute. AVID trains educators how to use college readiness learning methodologies, teaching strategies and best practices in all classes across a school site. In this way, every student learns the critical thinking, study skills, and critical reading and writing skills needed to achieve success in higher education and career paths.

MadisonAchieves: $15,000 (1,100 students)

MadisonAchieves will work with Jackson State Community College and the Jackson-Madison County School System to provide opportunities for academic remediation during high school and prior to college enrollment. With this grant, many students who would otherwise enter college facing the barrier of remediation may, instead, enroll in “for credit” classes.

 Martha O’Bryan Center: $15,000 (30 students)

TCASN funding will be used to pilot the Martha O'Bryan Postsecondary Boot Camp, which aims to reduce the number of postsecondary students needing remedial coursework. The program will meet four days a week during June 2013, and will expand upon Top Floor services by providing a bridge between high school and college.

Memphis Academy of Science and Engineering (MASE): $15,000 (30 students)

MASE, a charter high school located in Memphis, serves a community with an 85 percent poverty rate. TCASN funding will be used to pilot a college interest and awareness program that provides 9^th grade students with a series of on-campus college visits and tours.

Southern Word: $15,000 (4,000 students)

Inspired by University of Wisconsin – Madison’s First Wave Spoken Word and Urban Arts Learning Community, a postsecondary retention program that offers students the opportunity to live, study, and create together, Southern Word will use TCASN funding to create an inter-university spoken word and hip hop performance troupe. The troupe, consisting of at least eight representatives from various Middle Tennessee higher education institutions, will conduct at least ten performances at Tennessee high schools and middle schools and will make the performances available online for in-class viewings.  

Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC): $15,000 (2,000 students)

TCASN funding will support the STUDY Foundation (Scholars in Tennessee Uplifting the Dreams of Youth), a project launched by TIRRC’s youth leaders in 2010 to provide immigrant students with the tools to stay in school, go to college, and develop their skills as leaders. Funds will be used create a college access guide with information that specifically speaks to immigrant students from different cultural backgrounds and different regions of the state. The guide will be translated into Spanish and two other languages.

Wright Middle School: $15,000 (50 students)

The grant allows for the creation of an academic element, "Reallife University, A Summer Adventure" to the Coleman summer program. Reallife University provides students the opportunity to connect academics with “real-life” experiences through a career and life skills simulation event.

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2011 FUNDED PROJECTS

SEED GRANTS (three-year stepped, recurring funding)

Bradley County Schools:  $163,185 (2,018 students)

Bradley County Schools, located in rural southeast Tennessee, serves a predominately at-risk student population with over 75 percent of its students coming from an economically disadvantaged background.  The district plans to create college planning seminars for high school juniors that will take place on a college campus, offer ACT prep classes and ACT teacher professional development training, expand college visits that will include parent visits, pay for one college application fee, produce a quarterly career/college newsletter, develop college access events for students and parents, and create 8th grade transition workshops that focus on developing college aspirations, the middle-to-high school transition, and study-skills.

Hamilton High School (Memphis City Schools): $170,000 (927 students)

Hamilton High School, located in South Memphis, serves a predominately African-American community with over 90 percent of its students identified as economically disadvantaged. Hamilton plans to develop a year-long college readiness program for all of its 9^th graders, host a senior seminar, pay for one college application fee, develop peer groups, offer ACT prep courses and FAFSA assistance, provide additional tutoring support, and offer college developmental courses to help reduce remedial coursework in postsecondary education. The school will also host monthly student/parent seminars to create a college-going culture for students and their families in order to ease the transition to postsecondary education.

Metro Nashville Public Schools: $167,720 (1,729 students)

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) plans to focus its project on two high schools: Pearl Cohn and Maplewood.  Pearl Cohn and Maplewood serve predominately African-American communities and over 85 percent of the students are economically disadvantaged. MNPS will assess the college access needs of both schools by developing a task force composed of teachers, counselors, students, administrators, parents/caregivers, district leaders, and community partners. Upon completion of the need analysis, the task force will identify community organizations that offer resources and programs that can help meet the identified needs and strengthen the college-going cultures in these two schools. In the third year, the project will expand to two additional high schools.

MODEL PROGRAM GRANTS

Union County Board of Education: $38,700 (821 students)

Union County, located north of Knoxville in rural Tennessee, will use TCASN funding to continue and enhance college access and success programs and services initiated through a federal GEAR UP grant that ended June 2011. Sixty percent of Union County High School’s student population is identified as economically disadvantaged. Through its Model Program Grant, the school plans to offer student achievement workshops, financial aid and college transitions workshops, college adventure nights, college visits, and a summer bridge program.

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Educational Opportunity Center: $39,996 (1,000 students)

UTC Educational Opportunity Center, a federally funded TRIO college access program, serves first generation, low-income students in Hamilton, Marion, Sequatchie, Bledsoe, and Grundy counties. TCASN funding will be used to expand current services and provide targeted services to homeless youth, youth in foster care, and military connected families. Additionally, recent federal budget cuts have limited the staff’s ability to travel to the outlying communities it serves, but through the Model Program Grant UTC EOC will be able to continue to provide college access services to these areas.

Memphis City Schools – Trezevant Career and Technology Center:  $40,000 (40 students/40 families)

The Summer Health Science Institute, in an effort to help meet the workforce needs of the health sciences employment sector, will expand its enrollment to include freshmen and sophomore students interested in health careers who do not meet the current entrance requirement of a 3.0 or higher grade point average.  Freshman will take high school credited courses in health science education and rising sophomores will take courses in forensics. Academic supports, enhanced classrooms, and mentors will be provided to students. Additionally, students will visit postsecondary education institutions, focusing on college awareness, college options, and the college-going process.

CATALYST GRANTS

In Full Motion: $15,000 (600 students/150 parents)

In Full Motion, Inc. (IFM), located in Nashville, provides academic tutoring, mentoring, leadership and college preparation to at-risk youth who have the hopes and dreams of becoming productive citizens. IFM will use TCASN funding to purchase an online tool that will improve the organization’s data tracking and program evaluations, resulting in better documentation of program effectiveness and success.

Perry County School District: $13,508 (364 students)

Seventy-one percent of Perry County School District, located in rural South Central Tennessee, is considered economically disadvantaged. The district plans to purchase the Cambridge ACT Prep Classroom Package and a mobile computer lab to help raise student ACT scores and reduce the number of graduates taking remedial courses.

Brainerd High School: $9,847 (293 students)

Brainerd High School, compared to other public schools of Hamilton County, has one of the highest indexes of poverty, the highest dropout rates, the lowest college enrollment rates, and the lowest ACT scores. TCASN funding will help provide new technology in the school’s college resource room and an updated set of ACT study guides.

White County High School: $14,984 (1,250 students)

Located in Sparta and serving as the only high school in the county, White County High School has a college-going rate of 44 percent. WCHS will purchase a mobile learning lab and a library of apps tailored to help increase the college-going rate and smooth the transitional pathway. This customized technology will allow WCHS to provide an individualized learning environment to all students, while also meeting professional development needs of teachers. Additionally, teachers plan to use the lab to mesh curriculum between academic and career-technical education classes.

Milan Special School District: $15,000 (2,259 students)

Milan Special School District is one of five school districts in Gibson County, located in rural Northwest Tennessee. MSSD recently appointed a veteran senior high school counselor to the position of college access counselor, demonstrating the district’s commitment to increasing college access and success. MSSD plans to use TCASN funding to develop a strategic plan of operation for its newly created College Access Program. The strategic plan will include, but is not limited to, the identification of stakeholders and partners in the community, the development of a policies and procedures of operation manual, the collection and analysis of data, and the creation of a sustainability plan.